Sunday, March 25, 2007

When we discuss about WCF several question always comes to our mind that what is the difference betweens WCF and web services? What is the advantage of using WCF? Should I use WCF or web services?

It is not possible to compare WCF and web services as both are different ways of communication between client and server. Here are few major features provided by WCF.

WCF is a new generation distributed technology which integrates all the other middle tier technologies like web services, COM +, Remoting, MSMQ and provides a unique development environment. It supports all the features supported by these technologies.

WCF is a services which can be hosted in IIS Servers, Windows services, as well as stand alone applications like windows form application, console application and WPF application

Using Datacontractserializer provided by WCF complex data types and private attributes can be serialized and pass across the boundary.

Using WCF messages can be transmitted using various channels like HTTP, TCP, MSMQ, Named pipe etc.

WCF application are easily configurable using configuration files and utilities

WCF can be integrated with other technologies and has great interoperability.